Hide and Seek
by Aqua Mage
Summary: When Jack is injured on one of his solo weevil hunts, he hides it. There's just no time to spare when the weevils are joining forces...
1. Chapter 1

Hi. Well, this is my first Torchwood fic, and it's an experiment. It's basically a Jack whumping fic, possibly with a slight plot thrown in later. No real ship intended, just whumping, though if there is any, it'll probably be slash, 'cos it's Torchwood, and Jack…. I've got more written, but it's even worse than this, so needs more editing before posting.

I'm not really sure when it's set yet. No real spoilers as yet. Apart from the first episode, perhaps.

Let me know what you think.

* * *

He groaned softly as consciousness crept up on him once more. Someone was shaking his shoulder, lightly slapping at his cheeks. Opening his eyes, he immediately regretted it, slamming them shut again and biting back a gasp as the light sent a sharp shot of agony into his brain. Somebody must have noticed the movement, though, because the slapping and shaking stopped and a voice shouted "Hey! I think he's wakin' up!". Not recognising the voice, he carefully tried his eyes again, opening them into narrow slits this time. One of them didn't seem able to go any further than that, he noticed absently. Black eye, then. Not his first. Probably not his last, either.

He focused on the face in front of him. A youngish man, early twenties, brown hair carefully gelled and spiked, blue eyes wide and staring straight at him, water dripping down his cheeks . It was raining, he realised. Squinting up past his awakener, he could see two or three other shapes hovering around, shifting uneasily, muttering. He could feel their eyes on him. He took stock of his surroundings. He was lying down, on the floor, by the feel of it, in some sort of back alley. The rain was pouring relentlessly into his face, making him blink painfully. Registering no immediate threats, he let his mind wander back to the events that brought him here.

He'd been weevil hunting, he remembered. Solo, as he often did. The dreams were bad again lately, only letting him steal an hour or two of sleep ever other night or so. He thanked the technology of the 51st century that allowed him to survive on much less sleep than the humans of the current time. Still, he did need more than he was getting. In hopes of tiring himself out, he'd put the hub on remote alert, gathered his anti-weevil spray, and left.

He remembered deciding to search the maze of back alleys on the outskirts of the city that had seen a spate of weevil related deaths in the last few weeks. Owen had theorised that, as it was coming into winter, the weevils were 'stocking up' as it were. It was true that the deaths had increased at this time last year, but back then there had not really been enough weevils through the rift to make it stand out.

The streets had been quiet at first. It was a Thursday night, and the various pubs and clubs were either closed or relatively empty, meaning a lack of people taking shortcuts through poorly lit back alleys. After a couple of hours, though, he'd picked up a trail, tracking a weevil into a dead end. Not really in the mood to play, he'd moved in to take it down, only to freeze as he heard a familiar noise behind him. He'd only just managed to get out of the way in time, as a second weevil charged him from behind. This unfortunately left him with his back against a wall, facing two rather agitated aliens. Foolishly, he'd thought it couldn't get any worse, only to one again be introduced to Murphy's law as two more rounded the corner. He didn't have time to ponder over the unusual sight of weevils in pairs, as at this moment the two directly in front of him charged him again.

The time after that was all a bit of a blur. He recalled pulling out his gun at some point, letting off several bullets into his attackers, aiming for their relatively unprotected eyes and nose. He'd been lucky, killing one straight off as the bullet passed directly through it's eye, and the others had been slightly more wary after that. Not for long though. He remembered running, desperately, falling, being leapt upon, torn at. He'd managed to use the spray on one, knocking it out, and wounded the other with another well-aimed bullet, causing it to limp away, letting out a mixture of growls and whimpers. The one left had dealt him several more nasty blows before he managed to get off another shot, hitting it in the leg. It barely slowed it down, but made it pause long enough for them to hear the babble of voices in a nearby alley, coming closer, shouting and laughing. There was the distinctive clink of glass, and several lewd whistles cut the air. The weevil hesitated, obviously trying to decide whether to continue with it's prey and risk being outnumbered, or take off back to wherever it normally holed up during the daytime. He let out several shots into the wall above it's head, which seemed to help it make up it's mind; it growled, baring it's triple rows of sharp teeth, and then turned and loped away in the opposite direction.

Head spinning, and starting to black out from blood loss and pain, he used the last of his adrenaline to drag the gassed weevil behind some battered looking bins, stuffed his gun back in it's holder, out of sight, and then staggered down the next alley, with some idea of trying to make it back to the SUV before he passed out. It was a forlorn hope, and he knew it. The world did a back flip and sunk into darkness before he had gone more than a few steps

* * *

So, thanks for reading. More might be on its way soon, it depends if anybody likes this or not. I'll keep writing it, but I don't want to clutter up the site with a fic that nobody but me wants to read!

Any comments would be much appreciated.

Thanks again,

Aqua Mage


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, so, here's chapter 2. Not really very good, but there you go. Thanx to Batman'sBeauty18 and michelle for reviewing.

Also, to anyone who's wondering why Jack doesn't just shoot himself and come back all better; he's not sure yet what's going on with the whole death thing, and doesn't know whether there is a limit to the number of times he can come back. If so, he doesn't want to waste a life, as it were…

That's the technical explanation. The real one is, of course, that I want to whump him and that I can't do that if he just dies and heals…

* * *

He was brought back to the present by more voices.

"Think he's conked out again."

"Reckon we should call an ambulance?"

"Dunno. See if he's got any ID. Maybe he's got someone we can call. Might not want the police to know that he got into a fight. And you know what them Doctors are like. They'll call the cops straight off."

"Yeah. Wankers"

He felt a hand reach fumble with the right hand pocket of his coat. Shooting out a hand, he grabbed the offending wrist, eyes snapping open once more. The young man yelped and scrambled back, yanking his wrist out of the older man's grip. "Hey man, sorry! I was just tryin' to-"

"Get some ID, I know. Sorry. Help me up" He reached out a bleeding and bruised hand, struggling to raise himself off the ground. One of the other men standing above him frowned. "Are you sure man? You look pretty beat up."

"Yeah!" Another piped in. "I saw on telly that you shouldn't move someone in an accident, in case they're more messed up than they thought. Inside, you know. He gestured to his chest. The guy on casualty, he hurt his neck. He got up, walked around, then, shrik". He drew his finger across his throat, grimacing horribly.

"Well that's alright then". He finally succeeded in pushing himself up into a sitting position. "This was hardly an accident." He gestured sharply at the guy whose wrist he had seized, who seem to be over his shock of a few minutes ago. "Please, help me up." The man hesitated, then held out his own hand, grasping his wrist firmly and hauling him to his feet. He tried, he really did, but he couldn't hold back a gasp of agony as every injury made itself known at once. The darkness threatened to pull him in again, but he fought it, leaning heavily against the alley wall and forcing himself to slow his breathing.

The young man in front of him, evidently worried that he had injured him further, started to babble. "Sorry man, I didn't mean to…I ain't no Doctor…I mean, we were just comin' back from the pub, you know? It's Davy's stag night." He gestured at one of the other men, who nodded mutely, staring. Normally, he would have just asked him to shut up, but the babble was helping to keep him conscious, so he ground out "Congratulations" through tightly gritted teeth.

The man, blinked. "Yeah, well, we was walkin' through, and then Andy, well, he reckoned he heard something. A sort of thud, weren't it, Andy?" Another of the four men nodded. "And so we came to check it out, see, and you were just 'ere, like you was dead. And then Davy said we should call an ambulance, but Mike said you might not want the cops to get wind of you bein' in a fight, like, so I was gonna check for ID, and-"

He had his breath back now, in a manner of speaking, and cut the younger man off gently. "I know. I heard. Thanks. Sorry about that. Must have had more to drink than I thought." He attempted a grin. "You should see the other guy, though. Teach him to steal my girl." He thought it sounded lame, but the men around were nodding, grinning sympathetically, and starting to look a little less panicked. Of course, he reflected, that might have something to do with the huge amounts of alcohol they had obviously ingested. Stumbling across an unconscious, bleeding man in a dirty back alley had sobered them up somewhat, but they were still…not quite with it.

There was a short silence, and then he grinned painfully again. "Well, anyway, thanks a lot." He paused. "You know, I'd take the other way 'round, if I were you. There's been some wild animal sightings around these alleys. Rabies, you know. Wouldn't want to get bitten before your wedding. He winked at the man identified as 'Davy'. They all grinned. "Yeah, man, we'll do that, thanks."

"Yeah, I don't want no dog chewin' on my butt". They all laughed, the alcohol obviously claiming them again.

"You sure you're gonna be okay, man? Don't need an ambulance or nothing?" He smiled and shook his head, thanking them again. Laughing and shoving each other again, they stumbled off back the way they came.

Sighing with relief, he sagged against the wall for a moment, then, gritting his teeth, pushed off and staggered back into the alley where he'd left the unconscious weevil. After checking it was still there, he covered it more carefully, then made his way slowly and painfully back to the car. Pulling it round, he managed to get the creature into the back, cuffing it's hands and feet together, just in case. Panting, his vision blurring slightly, he palmed a handful of painkillers from the med kit under the seat and then drove around until he finally found the alley where he had killed the first weevil. The body was gone, as he'd expected, though he'd had to check. The weevils tended to cannibalise their dead. And their living, sometimes, he thought, with a grimace. Though you didn't usually see more than one at a time. He made a mental note to tell his team about the frightening possibility of weevils working together, then put the car in gear and carefully manoeuvred his way through the empty streets back towards the hub, and a strong shot of painkillers.

* * *

So, thanx for reading. More will be up soon. If you're enjoying this, you might like my other Torchwood fic, too. It's a oneshot, and just posted. I'd really appreciate anyone checking it out and letting me know what they think.

Aqua Mage


	3. Chapter 3

'Kay, warning. This chapter is a bit messy - blood and all that - not too bad, but still, if you're very squeamish…you probably wouldn't be reading this, I guess. Anyway, this is something of a filler chapter. It's not really necessary to the plot - you can skip it and go straight into the next one if you want, though it might not be up for a week or two, as HP7 comes out in two days!

I'm not really very pleased with this, so I'd like to know what you think.

Enjoy.

* * *

It was over an hour later that he finally got to sit down and assess his injuries. It had taken an inordinately long time to complete the drive back, as he kept having to pull over when his vision blurred, once or twice throwing up from the pain, which didn't help his wounded ribs. Then he'd had to secure the weevil in a cell., wash it down with disinfectant, get it into some clothes…but it was finally done. Staggering into the bathroom, he sank down, sitting on the toilet seat. Looking at his tattered clothes, he gave up any hope of trying to save them, and, grasping a pair of scissors from the medical kit sitting next to him, cut them off carefully, letting the bloody remains fall around him. Stumbling into the shower, he let the water pour over him, trying not to cry out in pain as the antiseptic soap he'd swiped from the medical bay stung the numerous cuts over his body. Stepping out, he patted himself sort of dry with a towel, reflecting absently that he'd have to bin it when he was done. Why were there only white towels, anyway? Completely impractical.

Carefully, he pulled on fresh underwear, reflecting thankfully that his more…private areas had escaped injury, and examined himself critically in the full length mirror hung on the wall. He'd got off lightly, considering, though he wasn't sure he was going to be able to hide this from his team.

His face wasn't too bad, he thought, trying to look on the positive side. He had a wonderful shiner obscuring most of his left eye, and a long scratch down the same cheek, thankfully not deep, but only just missing the eye. His lip was split in two places and even now fresh drops of blood were forming, but apart from that, his good looks remained intact. Thank heavens for small mercies, he thought, shaking his head, and then wincing, his fingers gently probing at the back of his skull. He had a nasty wound there, probably from being smashed repeatedly into the walls. A concussion, too, he added, as the room spun again, and his nausea increased. Checking his pupils, he was pleased to see that both seemed to be reacting normally, as far as he could tell. Not serious, then.

Moving down, his eyes scanned his chest, and it was here that he really winced. His entire body was covered in bruises and scratches, but his chest had three long, deep gashes running from one shoulder to the opposite hip - claw marks, he realised. Turning around, and craning painfully over his shoulder, he saw that he had similar wounds on his back, this time running straight down his left side, with another at almost right angles to it, though neither were as long or deep as the ones on his chest; surface wounds, really. There was a large bite mark on his right arm, along with numerous other more minor scratches and bruises, and another, more serious bite on his left leg, as well as a fairly deep set of scratches on the calf. The toes on that foot were swollen, too, and he thought that at least two were broken, as well as the bottom two fingers on his right hand. Good thing he was ambidextrous, he reflected. He was pretty sure that at least two ribs were broken, too, as well as a few cracked or bruised. Nothing too serious, and nothing that wouldn't heal, though he'd be sore for a while. All in all, he thought, he was lucky to be alive. Or not, as he probably would have come back uninjured. On the other hand, the weevils might have eaten him, and he wasn't sure that even he could come back from that.

Sighing, and wincing at the pain in his chest, though dulled now by the heavy shot of painkillers he'd given himself before his shower, he wished briefly for the nanogenes of his own time, before settling down on the toilet seat once more, and picking up a needle and thread.

It took him another hour to finish, but finally he'd managed to sew up all the serious wounds within reach, cover them in antiseptic, and bandage them. He was still fairly sure they'd leave scars, but oh well. He didn't really think he'd be able to avoid infection, but it was worth a try. Rummaging in the kit, he found some antibiotics. Reading through the labels, he selected the appropriate ones, thanking his lucky stars that he'd chosen 21st century medicine over 35th century politics when in college. At least now he had a back up plan. Finishing up, he cleared the bathroom of his presence, re-stocked the medical kit and carefully replaced it in the med bay, checked on the weevil once more, then finally staggered into his room and collapsed painfully onto his sheets. It was five o'clock am. Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

Well, thanx for reading. Also, thanx to everyone who reviewed the last chapter; I tried to reply to you all, but if I missed anybody, let me know.

Just as a note, I'm aware that Jack's injuries are a bit over the top, but like I said, the specifics aren't really important. This is about him hiding them.

Pleeeeeease review,

Aqua Mage


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, so, here's chapter four. Sorry for the unreasonably long wait.  
This chapter is kind of pivotal to the plot, so it took a long time  
to sort out in my head. And, also, I'm very lazy. :)

Hope it makes sense.

* * *

He was woken just over two hours later by Ianto coming in to work early, as usual. Groaning silently, Jack rolled his feet off the bed and sat up, breathing heavily, his ribs burning. Though he'd managed two hours of sleep (a new record - he should get mauled more often!), he felt, if possible, even worse. His wounds were agony as the painkillers wore off - and damnit, it was another hour before he could safely take more - and he was horribly stiff. Slowly and carefully, he changed the bandages that he had bled through and pulled on trousers and a shirt - dark blue, so that no blood would show if he were to…leak, and with long sleeves, to hide the bite mark and scratches. See. Who said he couldn't be practical? Shoes and socks were more of a problem. Bending hurt. A lot. He managed it eventually, but he thought he might have popped a stitch in his chest.

Ignoring that, he hauled himself to his feet. Glancing in the mirror, he sighed as he looked at his face. The bruising was, if anything, worse. He was not going to be able to hide that. He supposed it didn't really matter. His face looked sore, yes, but they'd all have to admit that none of the wounds were too bad. The nasty one on the back of his head was hidden by his hair, though he thought there might be a slight lump visible. He'd have to be careful not to present the back of his head to anybody for a few days. Other than that, he could just tell them that the weevil he'd captured had got a heavy blow in before he gassed it. It wouldn't be the first time. He could say that he got away when the other weevils came - he certainly had to tell his team that they were working together now. It could become a serious problem, if it was more than just a one-off event. Weevils were dangerous enough alone, but in groups…he shuddered to think of the damage they could do. They needed to get straight onto this. Squaring his shoulders, and wincing as this pulled on his stitches, he exited the room for another day of saving the world. And all he had to do was stay conscious, and keep his team from noticing his injuries and fussing. Piece of cake.

* * *

"Wow, what happened to you?" Gwen's exclamation echoed through the hub, and he hid a wince as the sound ratcheted his headache up another notch.

"Had an argument with a door" he replied, smirking as best he could with his face feeling as if it was at least twice it's normal size.

Gwen rolled her eyes, hands on hips. Jack wondered if she knew quite how much she looked like his mother at that moment. He was saved from her stare by a soft gasp from Tosh, who had just entered the hub, her eyes fixing straight on his battered face. He winked at her. "You should see the other guy."

He was answered by a snort from Owen as he came in behind Tosh. The other man walked up to him, stopping just in front of him to study his face. Slightly uncomfortable under the Doctor's scrutiny, Jack raised his good eyebrow. "You don't think it'll damage my good looks, do you Doctor Harper?" he simpered, earning a grin from Gwen and a stifled chuckle from Ianto. Owen, however, just stared at him. "No human did that," he said, at last. "What did?" This sobered the mood immediately, and all gazes turned inquiringly to Jack, who held up his hands as if to ward them off.

"That," he said, seriously, "is what I wanted to talk to you about."

* * *

"So, there were how many, again?" Tosh looked up inquiringly, hands poised over her keyboard. Jack nodded at her. "Four. Well, one at first, but the others came up pretty quick. It was almost as if the first one called them or something?" He looked over at Owen as he said this, eyebrow raised in question. Owen was the one who'd studied the weevils most intensively. He nodded at the inquiry. "That's possible. I've theorised that the weevils have some level of psychic ability…certainly enough to alert others in the area to their presence. It's why we never normally find more than one at a time. The signal sent out repels any others from that area, leaving them alone to hunt. They're not very social creatures." He frowned. "I didn't think that they could change the signal to call others to them…that would require a much higher level of psychic ability…" He trailed off, looking frustrated.

Tosh spoke up. "Didn't you say earlier that you thought they could draw in the psychic energy around them? Like background radiation? Isn't it possible that something is giving out enough psychic energy to allow them to change the signal?" Even as she said it, Jack was shaking his head. "No, anything giving off that much into the atmosphere would be huge. Not to mention cause every living thing within a ten mile radius to pass out. I think we would have noticed that."

"We're in Wales." Owen muttered under his breath. "There's nothing but sheep for …" he trailed off at the glares he was getting from Gwen and Ianto. "Okay okay! That's out then". Still glaring at him, Gwen joined the conversation. "But even if they could change the signal, why would they? I mean, Owen just said that they weren't exactly buddy-buddy with each other?"

Jack looked up from where he'd been discreetly trying to shift into a position that put less pressure on his ribs. "True," he said. "And they weren't just in the same place. They were working together" At their questioning looks, he elaborated. "They didn't just all charge at once. They tried to back me into a corner." Pausing, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, partly in thought, and partly in an attempt to ease his ever increasing headache. The painkillers were starting to wear off and his injuries were once again making themselves known in full force. A hand on his shoulder brought him back to the present, and he looked up to find Ianto standing over him, looking slightly concerned. The others were absorbed in theories about the weevil's new co-operative tendencies, but he noticed Owen giving him a searching look as well. Damn! Giving both men what he hoped was a reassuringly healthy smile, he sat up straight again, almost gasping at the effort. "I don't think they were trying to kill me," he interrupted them.

They stared at him for a moment, and then Owen smirked and said "Well, what were they doing then? I don't think they were asking you to tea!" He gestured at Jack's swollen face. Jack was about to retort when Ianto piped up from behind him. "What if they were?" Now it was his turn to be stared at. He blushed. "I mean, what if they were trying to sort of…save you for later?" Owen snorted at his phrasing, but Tosh was now back at her computer, hands flying over the keys. "That's it! I knew I'd seen it somewhere…" She cleared her throat, and announced. "There's been a noticeable increase in disappearances in the past few weeks. The police think it's just co-incidence…these things do fluctuate…but what if Jack's not the first to have been attacked? What if the weevils are abducting people instead of killing them for some reason?" They all stared at her, then Gwen voiced what they were all thinking. "But why would they do that?"

Suddenly, Owen surged to his feet. "Bees!" he exclaimed. Before anyone could question him, he continued. "They're like bees. I knew I'd heard of this sort of behaviour before. Bees are notoriously team workers, _as long as they have a Queen_! If the Queen is killed and they don't have another lined up, the hive goes haywire, completely unordered. The weevils must have been working alone for so long because they didn't have a Queen. But now…"

"One's come through the rift," finished Jack. "And that's what's allowing them to change the signal?" Owen nodded. "She must give out some sort of hormone or signal of her own that identifies her as Queen and means that she can control her workers, to a certain extent. They're probably taking people alive to feed her. Eeewww!" They all shuddered slightly at the thought.

Then Owen looked at Jack. "Jack, this could be serious. If the weevils are like other species with Queen's, she's the only one that can breed…but she'll do it in huge numbers. We could be looking at several hundred new weevils in one go…and I've no idea how long a baby weevil takes to mature, or how often the Queen can mate." There was silence, then Gwen said "We can't afford to have a possible influx of a hundred new weevils a month…or even every six months. They're already coming through the rift faster and faster."

"And what if another one comes through?" Ianto piped up. "Another Queen, I mean? Or even more than one?" This new possibility made them all quiet, imagining the carnage.

"We can't let that happen," Tosh murmured. Jack sighed. His head pounded, his vision was swaying slightly, and his ribs were killing him. He felt weak and shaky, too, and suspected that infection was setting in to at least one of the scratches on his back. But they needed to act now. Even a hundred new weevils created could be dangerous…and they had no way of knowing when they would be born, or even if some already had been. He looked up, pushing the pain to some dark corner of his mind.

"We won't".

* * *

Well, that's it. Sorry for any mistakes. Let me know if something  
needs explaining. Oh, and, sorry if I'm wrong about the whole  
bees/queens relationship...I really have no idea. 

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. I do try and reply to them all, but my e-mail has been sending a lot of normal mail to my spam folder lately, and deleting it, so if I HAVE missed anybody, please let me know.

Next chapter will be up at some point. I know better now than to  
suggest a time scale!

Aqua Mage


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